


Crisis in the Rivera family

by GreatMarta



Category: Coco (2017)
Genre: Conflict, Early marriage, Enrique has good intentions, Family Dynamics, Luisa is frustrated, Mama Coco is awesome, Mama Coco is the answer to everything, Marital Problems, miguel is cute, mother-in-law vs. daughter-in-law, siblings being "supportive"
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2019-07-11 00:35:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15960923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreatMarta/pseuds/GreatMarta
Summary: Young Luisa feels mistreated by her mother-in-law and frustrated with her husband. Enrique doesn't know what to do.





	1. Chapter 1

4-year-old Miguel Rivera beamed in delight as his mother read him a bedtime story. Abel, his 11-year-old cousin, pretended to be asleep in his bed on the other side of the room, but could not help enjoying the narrative himself.

“He took the cub into his arms,” Luisa narrated softly, “approached the edge of the rock, and lifted it for everybody to see.”

She flipped the page and shifted the book towards Miguel, to let him take a good look at the pictures before continuing the story. The boy absorbed the image of various African animals, his excitement building up for the upcoming segment. 

“The animals cheered for their newborn prince,” Luisa read on in a livelier tone, to reflect the mood of the scene. “Elephants trumpeted – Too-toot! Too-toot!”

“Too-toot! Too-toot!” repeated her overjoyed son. His enthusiasm brought a smile to her face.

“Monkeys screeched,” she went on. “Oo-ooh! Oo-ooh!”

“Oo-ooh! Oo-ooh!” Miguel sprang up, putting his heart into the monkey act. He was enjoying himself so much.

Meanwhile Abel broke into cold sweat. “Miguel, keep it down!” he pleaded. “If Abuelita hears you…!”

The door swung open. In the doorway stood the boys’ grandmother, her expression sharp as a knife. Abel ducked under his duvet. Luisa and Miguel froze.

“What was this noise?” the older woman asked, marching in. Her vigilant gaze scanned the room before setting on her daughter-in-law.

“Oh,” Luisa said, overcoming her initial surprise. “I was just reading Miguel a bedtime story,” she gestured the book. “We were mimicking animal sounds,” she added, realizing her mother-in-law must have perceived those sounds as disturbing.

“Why would you do that?” demanded the family matriarch. “You are people, not animals.”

For a moment, Luisa didn’t know what to say. It was no secret that her husband’s mother hated music with burning passion and was hyper-sensitive to anything vaguely resembling a tune, but to get this worked up over an innocent game? This was harsh, even for her. Miguel clearly shared his mother’s sentiment, for he cringed and pressed himself to her side.

The boy’s grandmother glanced at him, and in that moment her face showed nothing but genuine concern. She may even felt a bit of remorse for scaring him. For approximately two seconds – that’s how long it took her to shake her head, let out a sigh, and move her attention back to Luisa.

“Look, you shouldn’t be encouraging the boy to act like a monkey,” she told the younger woman with concern. “I don’t want people thinking he was raised in a barn.”

Luisa’s eyes widened in disbelief, her mouth opened slightly in shock. Her mother-in-law may have switched to a calmer tone, but her words still carried an echo of accusation - ‘You are hurting my grandson, you are a bad mother’.

A voice in Luisa’s head told her to rebel against the injustice she was treated with, to stand by her right to entertain her own child, but another, a voice of reason, told her this wasn’t a battle she had a chance of winning. Elena Rivera’s word was the absolute law in this house, and no amount of solid arguments could change that.

Luisa realized she was feeling utterly hopeless, and looked down in embarrasment.

The next moment she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“It’s alright, mija. I know you’re trying your hardest to follow our rules, and I appreciate it. I’m sure it won’t be long before you let go of all of your harmful habits. Until then, I’ll stand by your side and support you. After all, that’s what families are for.”

Elena Rivera may have been earnest in her attempt at reconciliation, but her words felt like a slap to Luisa’s face. The atmosphere in the room was thick with negative energy, and the young woman was finding it harder and harder to ignore the bitterness building up in her throat. Just like that time her mother scolded her for the way she cleaned the house, even though she had put her best effort into preparing it to her standards. Or when she the teacher ridiculed her homework, even though she had poured her heart into it.

Remembering the soul-crushing defeats of her past, Luisa couldn’t help pressing her lips together in anger. She didn’t dare signal her true feelings more blatantly than this.

“You can read on, mija,” said her mother-in-law. “Just don’t add any unnecessary sound effects. Your son doesn’t need them.”

Luisa couldn’t bring herself to speak, so she nodded.

Elena Rivera smiled benevolently, whispered goodnight to Miguel, gave him a kiss, and exited the room, content with the way she solved this little crisis.

Little did she know that the real crisis was only about to begin.


	2. Chapter 2

“We need to have a serious talk with your mother,” Luisa said upon entering the bedroom she shared with her husband. “She really needs to learn some boundaries.”

Enrique Rivera didn’t respond. He was already asleep.

Luisa sighed in exasperation and gave him a shove.

“Umh?” the man mumbled, opening his eyes.

“I’ll have you know, your mother badmouthed me in front of our son, and scared him half to death,” declared Luisa in all seriousness.

Her husband stared at her, dumbfounded. “What?”

“I was reading to him. We were mimicking animal sounds. She barged right in and told us to act like people, and not like monkeys,” explained the young mother, becoming agitated as she remembered the incident. “Heavens, Enrique, she looked as if she wanted to strangle me. As if I was hurting Miguel. And why? Because I wanted him to enjoy the story. This isn’t normal.”

By now, the man lifted himself to a sitting position. He listened to his wife as attentively as he could – given that he was only just awakened – but he couldn’t tell what sort of response she was expecting of him. Unfortunately, his first instinct was to rationalize the incident and try to justify his mother’s actions.

“Well, you know how she is,” he told his wife. “She can be a little emotional at times. But I’m sure she didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Luisa’s expression hardened. “I don’t want people saying my grandson was raised in a barn. Your mother’s exact words. What am I to make of this?” she challenged.

Enrique sighed heavily. “Alright, that wasn’t the most fortunate wording. But then, if you were making weird noises, you should have known this kind of situation could happen.”

Luisa couldn’t believe her ears. “You’re saying it’s my fault?”

Enrique let out another sigh. “Dearest, we talked about this. You know as well as I do that this family has a certain set of rules, and they must be observed.”

“I know,” the young woman groaned. “Thou shall not listen to music, play music, sing, dance, hum, or whistle. Thy children shall not play with toys that produce any sort of noise, or watch television without supervision. These are the rules I promised to observe. It’s hard, but I’m managing. But now it seems I’m not even allowed to read a story to my son without upseting your mother. One of these days she’ll forbid me from talking to him.”

Enrique forced himself to suppress a groan of irritation. “Dearest, my mother adores you. She really does. She says I’m lucky to have found such a wonderful wife,” he said with all the confidence he could muster.

His wife sneered at him. “Oh, I believe you. There aren’t that many women willing to join a family as insane as yours.”

“Ey, now you’re being insolent,” Enrique revolted. “You are my wife, so this family is as much yours as it is mine. Just because you’re upset doesn’t mean you can insult them.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Luisa said dryly. “I forgot it was only your mother who had the right to drag everybody else through mud!”

Witht hat she grabbed her nightgown and pillow from the bed and turned to the door.

“Hey! What are you doing?” demanded Enrique.

“I’m sleeping with Miguel tonight. At least he cares about my feelings,” declared Luisa and stormed off, shuting the door loudly.

Enrique scratched his head in puzzlement. It seemed that he messed up pretty bad. Or maybe it was her time of the month. Which didn’t change the fact that he could have handled that situation better.

Oh well. There’s no use trying to reach out to Luisa now. They will have to talk this over in the morning. Hopefully, she’ll have calmed down by then.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to take this opportunity to thank my Mexican consultants: livehorses, specialspeckofdust, and dbarts95 :-)

Enrique had hoped to catch Luisa alone and apologize to her before the whole family gathered for breakfast, but failed miserably. By the time he made it to the kitchen, it was bursting with activity. His sister Gloria was making coffee. His brother Berto’s wife – Carmen – was arranging slices of tomatoes and onions on a plate. His own wife was scrambling eggs, and though he couldn’t see her face from where he stood, he could tell she was still upset about their argument form the previous night.

This was going to be an awkward breakfast.

“Hola, Enrique,” said Carmen.

“Hola,” replied Enrique. A couple more ‘holas’ came his way, but Luisa didn’t even honor him with a glance, stubbornly focusing on the frying pan in her hand. The young man wasn’t surprised, but it was still a bitter pill to swallow. He briefly considered addressing his spouse directly, but ultimately decided against it. She clearly didn’t want to talk to him, and going against her wish would probably backfire.

With a subtle sigh, Enrique took his place at the dining table. Plates and utensils were already in place, as was a jug of orange juice, two small bowls of salsas, and a load of triangular corn chips to serve as a base for foods yet to come. Also in place were Enrique’s father Franco, brother Berto, and nephew Abel. Between the three of them, only the youngest seemed aware of the disturbance in their otherwise idyllic atmosphere. He did share a room with Miguel and was old enough to understand that a husband and wife sleeping separately was a bad sigh. Still, he lacked the erudition to figure out what exactly went wrong, and was now looking anxiously at his uncle with the inquiry painted all over his face.

There wasn’t an answer Enrique could offer him other than a shrug. There wasn’t much he could do, other than put on a brave face and act as normal as possible. Hopefully, it will be enough to ease Abel’s worries.

Fortunately, Enrique’s own son did not seem affected by the events of the previous night. The boy was currently running around the courtyard with his cousin Rosa, who was just a little older than him. Amidst their laughter, another pair were making their way towards the dining area. Enrique’s mother Elena was supporting her own mother – Mama Coco, the eldest member of the Rivera family.

As they neared the table, Berto stood up and went to pull the chair for Mama Coco.

As soon as the elderly lady was seated, Miguel planted himself in front of her.

“Mama slept with me tonight!” he exclaimed proudly, placing his hands on his great-grandmother’s knees. “Do you know why?”

Enrique froze. He threw a quick glance at Luisa, but she was giving him her back.

“Miguel, be careful,” pleaded Enrique’s mother, “Your Mama Coco has bad legs.”

She sounded concerned, but whether it was about her mother’s health, or the little boy blurting out something he wasn’t supposed to, Enrique couldn’t tell. Likely a combination of both.

Miguel took a step back. “Mama slept with me, because Papa made a huuuuuuge fart!” he beamed, spreading his arms wide.

Everybody went dead silent for a moment.

Only the sound of a spatula scratching the frying pan disturbed the general confusion.

The next moment a wide smile grew of Mama Coco’s face. “My, really?” she asked, genuinely amused.

Her heartfelt tone spurred others into action.

“Was it really that bad?” Gloria called over to Luisa, donning a grin.

Luisa kept a stone face. “It was so bad it could have killed a dinosaur.” She declared as she turned off the gas.

Mama Coco snorted.

Papa Franco gave a little laugh. “Oh, Enrique, shame on you,” he mock-scolded his son.

Berto leaned towards his brother. “Too much beans, wasn’t it?” he snickered.

Enrique could feel his face turning brick red. God, even his ears felt hot from the embarrassment!

“I’m sorry!” he blurted. “I didn’t do it on purpose. I’m sorry,” he repeated in a small voice.

His wife, who was unloading scrambled eggs onto their son’s plate, was perfectly unimpressed.

“After breakfast, I’m taking Miguel to the playground,” she announced, addressing nobody in particular. “We’ll be back by lunch.”

“Oh. Okay,” muttered Enrique, watching as she filled her own plate, and then his, adamantly refusing to look him in the eye.

Enrique was devastated. He let her have her little revenge. He did nothing to rebuke the story she made up. He sat through his relatives’ teasing remarks and took it like a man when they amused themselves at his expense. He was properly ashamed. This should have been enough to satisfy Luisa. Alas, the woman remained as unfeeling as Death herself.

It hurt.

Enrique barely registered Luisa telling Miguel to take his place and eat his food. He paid even less attention to Rosa piping up and saying she wanted to go the playground too. He was, to a certain extent, aware of the sympathetic tap on his shoulder as Gloria served him coffee, but chose to disregard it.

He did, however, perk up when Mama Coco spoke his name.

“Quique, mijo, there is nothing be ashamed of,” she assured. “I sometimes fart so loud I wake myself up.”

With these words, she had her entire family’s undivided attention.

“Even so,” she continued, “my farts are nothing compared to what your Papa Julio could produce. Poor darling was loud as a trumpet!”

Mention of a music instrument’s name sparked a collective gasp of all the adults.

“What’s a trumpet?” Rosa piped up.

“You mean like an elephant?” Miguel stood on his chair and leaned towards his great-grandmother.

Meanwhile the children’s grandmother was breaking into cold sweat. “Mama! There are children present!” she pleaded, struggling to reconcile the role of an obedient daughter with that of the family’s chief rule enforcer.

For some reason, Mama Coco seemed amused. “Oh, children! Elena, I suddenly remembered how you and Victoria had this farting competition in the bathtub. Do you remember?”

For once, Elena Rivera was lost for words. “I don’t remember anything like that…” she muttered evasively.

Meanwhile the eyes of her descendants darted from her to Mama Coco, their nerves tingling with a strange mixture of anxiety and excitement.

Mama Coco remined unperturbed. “Well, you were still very young back then,” she conceded, a touch of humor in her voice. “But I still remember your sister yelling ‘Mama! That disgusting swine soiled the water!’”

That did it – a chorus of giggles arose from the table.

“Did Abuelita win?” demanded Abel, his worries ultimately lost beneath a surge of child-like joy.

“Oh, I’d say she did,” said Mama Coco, ignoring the fact that her daughter looked like she was about to faint. “Who’d have thought such a little girl could produce this much…”

“Mama, that’s quite enough,” said Elena sternly, her complexion going from latte macchiato to an interesting shade of mahogany.

That might have been enough to stop Mama Coco, but another member of the family decided to continue what the elderly lady had started.

“My, my, Elena, I don’t think I’ve seen you this flustered since I first kissed your hand,” remarked Papa Franco.

His wife shot him a deadly glare, but it had no effect on him. The man was the calmest person in the family and refused to let himself be intimidated.

“Oh, don’t exaggerate, Franco,” said Mama Coco. “I’m sure there were a couple more times in between.”

“Most probably,” he conceded. “But then, it’s hard to tell once the lights are out.”

“Enough!” Elena demanded sharply. She stormed to where her husband sat, grabbed a bowl of corn chips and begun to unload them onto his plate. “Do me a favor and stuff yourself.”

Franco made a bold move and reached out for her hand. “Your wish is my command, mi amor,” he declared and kissed it lightly.

Elena shook her head, as though he was hopeless. It seemed that this particular battle was one she had no chance of winning. However, judging by the smile she displayed – one that was meant to be guarded, but turned out warm and affectionate – the outcome didn’t bother her all that much. Having let out a weary breath, she leaned over and kissed her husband on the cheek, gently stroking his chin before letting go.

Just like this, the tension at the table was dispelled. Everybody’s attention shifted to food, and nobody seemed to mind that most of it had gone cold.

Amidst the general commotion, Enrique’s ears registered a chuckle, followed by a contented sigh.

Realizing just who it came from, he turned towards her.

She was smiling.

A sincere, genuine smile, the intoxicating kind that touched his heart and dispersed his worries.

He couldn’t believe his eyes. Luisa, his precious Luisa, she dropped the cold façade and rejoiced with the rest of the family.

The sight made him ridiculously happy.

The next moment she noticed he was watching her.

She remembered she was supposed to be giving him the silent treatment.

She forced herself into a grimace, turned her attention towards the food, and begun to eat nervously.

Surprisingly, it didn’t bother him all that much. Even if for a split second, she met his eyes. He got to see a dimple on the left side of her face. It was more than he could have hoped for just minutes ago.

It was all thank to Mama Coco.

Enrique Rivera could not thank the God enough for letting his grandmother live long enough to help him overcome the pains of the adult life.


End file.
